Pantheon of Heroes

Kaijutsu sho Homura Natsukiri

Clumsy Jiani Bard (Played by Clare)

Description:

Bio:

Kaijutsu sho Homura Natsukiri

I was born to the daughter of the patriarch of the Kaijutsu clan. My mother kept the identity of my father a secret all my life—I knew I was half-elf, but I had no idea who my father was or how he had met my mom. Sadly, she died when i was 12, after years of quiet ostracism from her family—not so much for the illegitimate birth as for her refusal to tell them the name of my father so they could extract payment.

After my mother died, my grandfather insisted that i be sent to a human finishing school so that i could make a good match to bring more wealth to our clan—half-elves have a reputation for grace and beauty, although i suffer from social awkwardness to the extent that any grace and beauty i might be blessed with are pretty much cancelled out the minute I open my mouth. Why at finishing school, I discovered that I was a gifted ohonkoto player, but i spent almost all my free time in the library, studying books on wizardry and trying out spells. (I was never very successful.) On day, I got separated from the group on an outing, and got lost near the outskirts of the city. I was rescued by a half-orc child who led me to the academy for misfits. Suddenly I’d found a place where i belonged, and so i began sneaking out of my school every chance i got so i could go to that one.

Eventually, though, finishing school ended, and i went back to the clan home, where i was under my grandfather’s supervision constantly. He had me at work minding the store, checking up on the warehouses, basically learning how to carry on the family business, because I’m the oldest of the grandkids (illegitimacy doesn’t matter as much as in our world—he knows who my grandfather is). But I pretty much hate it, and spend most of the time i’m there trying out animation spells on origami dragons I’ve made.

meanwhile, he’s trying to arrange a match for me with one of a number of wealthy suitors—he’s hoping for one from another of the great merchant clans, but he wouldn’t mind an enthusiastic young fella from the lower levels of society, provided he proves he can make money. So far, most of them haven’t interested me, and I’ve become so tongue-tied when interacting with the ones I do find attractive that they give up in a hurry.

My grandpa does love me in his own way, and elves are known to be pretty rich, though they don’t care much about material wealth—part of the reason he was so frustrated with my mom for not telling him my father’s name was that he was hoping he could persuade him to marry her. So eventually he came to me while i was trying to make one of my paper dragons come to life, informed me that he firmly believed every young person should go on a quest before settling down (I’d never heard him say such a thing before), handed me a rucksack, and told me to go find my father’s people—it was time for me to learn where I came from, and having to make some money for once rather than just having him give it to me would build some character and make me less spoiled. And if I came home with an elvish husband from one of the silver-working families, so much the better.

In the rucksack i found some traveling clothes, a little pouch of money (“starter capital,” Grandpa insisted), and my ohonkoto. Apart from my trips to the school for misfits, I’d never been anywhere unsupervised, and I really prefer things like this to be on my terms and rebellious, rather than on other people’s terms and doing exactly what they want me to. I pitched a little hissy fit at my grandfather for a while, but he was firm. So, finally, I set out that evening, got a room in a tavern on the outskirts of the city, and arranged with the innkeeper to give my first public ohonkoto performance.